NHRA Funny Car driver and team owner John Force, speaking with his daughter Courtney earlier this season, is seeking help from several firms to help secure funding. Photo by Will Lester/Staff Photographer

John Force is no stranger to severe body blows. In less than a month from his latest setback – the loss of major sponsors Castrol and Ford – the drag racing icon has set his path for the future.

“I have no options,” he said after outing his plans Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway in advance of the Carlyle Tools NHRA Carolina Nationals. “I love this sport. I’m going to be in it until I drop.”

Although both sponsors will remain with John Force Racing through the 2014 season, the 15-time NHRA Funny Car champion has reached out to Hollywood and the largest motorsports marketing agency for a smooth transition in 2015.

“You can’t race any series – whether it’s NHRA, NASCAR, IndyCar – without money, without corporate America,” the 64-year-old racer told his audience. “One thing I want to make clear moving forward, we have great partners through 2014 and we will be racing for more championships for them. Castrol and Ford deserve to have our full focus until the end of 2014 so we do not intend to discuss any major sponsorship developments until after the 2014 season.”

To reach that goal, Force announced he has hired JMI as a “strategic partner to help facilitate” the search for new sponsorship opportunities. Additionally, JFR and John Force Racing Entertainment have retained John Ferriter and Octagon Entertainment along with the public relations firm of Rogers & Cowan for a new television reality show.

“We are going back to Hollywood,” Force said. “We loved doing the ‘Driving Force’ show in 2006 and 2007 but we had to change direction after we lost Eric Medlen and I had to teach my daughters how to become professional drivers.

“We are going in a different direction for this show,” Force said about the concept. “It won’t be about learning the ropes on the race track. … now I need to teach them how to chase money and get in the boardroom with corporate America.”

And it’s going to take more than just the usual NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series sponsors to help Force make up the estimated loss of 40 percent of JFR’s annual $20 million budget.

Force has reached beyond the traditional market of sponsors by signing Auto Club, Traxxas and Brand Source. Other NHRA teams have also landed deals with Geico, Patron Tequila, Dollar General and Rocky Boots, to name a few, while Coca-Cola recently extended its sponsorship for five years.

Force also revealed to his Charlotte audience Auto Club had extended its deal with JFR and driver Robert Hight for another five years.

That’s the direction NHRA president Tom Compton wants for his sport.

“We never like to see sponsors leave, but such shuffling is not uncommon in our industry,” Compton said. “NHRA understands that companies make decisions based on their ever-changing corporate objectives, but our sport remains a great return on investment, one that continues to attract strong sponsor support.”

Compton is not at all surprised by Force’s announcement.

“He’s an icon in the sport, and the hardest-driven guy I’ve ever met,” said the president of the Glendora-based sanctioning body.

Force has been racing in NHRA since 1979 and said he’s been at a major “crossroads” several times in his career.

“In the early days, I was in the Midwest, broke, planning to give up my dream of racing when an opportunity to match race materialized,” he said, referring to a rainout in Houston before he joined NHRA. “In 2007, I was at a crossroads when we lost Eric and when I crashed six months later (at Ennis, Tex.).

“ Doctors told me I would be lucky to walk again but I came back in 2010 and won my 15th championship (at Pomona Raceway). Now, I am at a new crossroads as I look for new primary sponsors for the first time in 25 years.

“I might have to start selling products to the competition something I never thought I would do if I don’t find another manufacturer. I have never been on the open market and I feel like hiring JMI gives me the best chance to continue to grow my company.

Lou Brewster is a nationally recognized motorsports journalist who has staffed NASCAR and NHRA events since 1969. Has also staffed high school football, in five different states, since 1967. Has won several national awards in writing and breaking news.

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